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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Black teen rom com we NEEDED! Leah Johnson already stole my heart with You Should see me in a Crown, and kept me glued to my seat with Rise to the Sun. This was so light hearted and just the escape I needed for a camping weekend. The details she gave about the stolen looks, the hesitations…….all so adorable. I can’t wait for the next one! I’m definitely hitting up my next music concert just because of this book!
Trigger Warnings: Parental loss, panic attacks, gun violence, non consensual image sharing
Representation: Black, Bisexual, Lesbian
Rise to the Sun is the story of two groups of friends who attend the Farmland music festival. Each pair have their own reasons to be there with missions to accomplish, but soon enough have to pair up for a common goal. After something goes wrong, the friends realize how much their lives are now intertwined and their individual dependency on music.
I was genuinely disappointed in this book. I found Olivia to be very immature and honestly, a horrible friend. It felt like she purposely made the worst decisions and woe is me when people didn’t like it. I wish there was a deeper analysis of how Olivia’s last relationship was affecting her and her current choices.
On the other hand, I liked Toni. I wanted nothing but good things for her. I wanted her to get the love she deserves, someone to break through her ice walls. I felt she was very relatable and struggles with many of the same things I did at her age.
Overall, I thought this book was okay. I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing and was often distracted rather than listening to the narrators. I was very excited for another sapphic read and was disappointed with the rush to love ending. After loving her first novel so much, I was so shocked to not enjoy this one!
Representation: Black, Bisexual, Lesbian
Rise to the Sun is the story of two groups of friends who attend the Farmland music festival. Each pair have their own reasons to be there with missions to accomplish, but soon enough have to pair up for a common goal. After something goes wrong, the friends realize how much their lives are now intertwined and their individual dependency on music.
I was genuinely disappointed in this book. I found Olivia to be very immature and honestly, a horrible friend. It felt like she purposely made the worst decisions and woe is me when people didn’t like it. I wish there was a deeper analysis of how Olivia’s last relationship was affecting her and her current choices.
On the other hand, I liked Toni. I wanted nothing but good things for her. I wanted her to get the love she deserves, someone to break through her ice walls. I felt she was very relatable and struggles with many of the same things I did at her age.
Overall, I thought this book was okay. I wasn’t a huge fan of the pacing and was often distracted rather than listening to the narrators. I was very excited for another sapphic read and was disappointed with the rush to love ending. After loving her first novel so much, I was so shocked to not enjoy this one!
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Olivia and Imani head to Georgia for a three day Farmland music festival. It's an opportunity for Olivia to escape a situation back home in Indiana -- something that caused her deep pain -- but she lies to her mother to make it happen. Imani is looking forward to a solid three days of friends-only time and Liv makes the promise this is what they'll be doing.
Enter Toni and Peter. They're also at the festival and they're long-time attendees. Toni's father was a musician and despite how much he was absent in her life (and the pain of unexpectedly losing him in a way that was traumatic), she's drawn to it. But she's torn between taking a safe choice going to college or taking a chance at making a crack at music. She sees things in black and white.
When Toni and Olivia crash into one another, it's a quick crush. But over the course of three days, the two girls have their ups and downs, challenge themselves to work through their pasts, and rectify the relationships in their lives that matter to them most.
I love Johnson's writing and her complex and compelling characters. There might, however, be a little too much going on in this book, as well as maybe a bit too little. That's a contradiction, of course; perhaps a better explanation is that the things that happened distracted a little bit from the things that could have been expanded. The first two days of the festival dragged, and when there's a Big Incident, it's a quick run through day three, which was the most compelling and engaging.
A solid read about friendship, queer romances, tackling your personal challenges, as well as learning how to see and understand the world in shades of gray.
Enter Toni and Peter. They're also at the festival and they're long-time attendees. Toni's father was a musician and despite how much he was absent in her life (and the pain of unexpectedly losing him in a way that was traumatic), she's drawn to it. But she's torn between taking a safe choice going to college or taking a chance at making a crack at music. She sees things in black and white.
When Toni and Olivia crash into one another, it's a quick crush. But over the course of three days, the two girls have their ups and downs, challenge themselves to work through their pasts, and rectify the relationships in their lives that matter to them most.
I love Johnson's writing and her complex and compelling characters. There might, however, be a little too much going on in this book, as well as maybe a bit too little. That's a contradiction, of course; perhaps a better explanation is that the things that happened distracted a little bit from the things that could have been expanded. The first two days of the festival dragged, and when there's a Big Incident, it's a quick run through day three, which was the most compelling and engaging.
A solid read about friendship, queer romances, tackling your personal challenges, as well as learning how to see and understand the world in shades of gray.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this was a fairly smooth read, a lot of cute moments but i didn't love it - mainly because the friendship drama was too cringey and resolved too easily. i also didn't feel a ton of chemistry between the main characters, tho they both were cool as individuals. some good content re: grief and anxiety, liked the live music vibes